# Snappy responses to "OK boomer" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 19, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651 "2019-11-19T15:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/41 "2019-11-20T15:03:09Z")
I gave my parents an awful hard time for a lot of things they had nothing to do with. According to 16-year-old me, they were responsible for LBJ, Nixon, and the Vietnam War. So if young’uns today want to repay the karmic debt, I really can’t complain. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/42 "2019-11-20T15:10:26Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > My snappy response: What’s your service branch? This may not be as snappy as you think. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/43 "2019-11-20T15:49:00Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > “I can’t. You didn’t save any money and won’t retire.” “Put the game controller down and create one, then.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/44 "2019-11-20T16:04:08Z")
“OK Boomer” has a shelf life of…actually I think it expired last week. Believe me, I’ve been observing internet catchphrases for a long time. This one is a flash in the pan. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/45 "2019-11-20T18:20:16Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > “OK Boomer” has a shelf life of…actually I think it expired last week. Believe me, I’ve been observing internet catchphrases for a long time. This one is a flash in the pan. That’s 100% true, but the backlash is going to live longer than Matlock’s syndication run. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/46 "2019-11-20T18:30:26Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Because I put my ass on the line for the nation and if they didn’t, fuck-em, their opinions really don’t matter to me. ok boomer ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/47 "2019-11-20T20:21:50Z")
This is one circumstance in which old people will have to be content with living well being the best revenge. Kick up your feet in your house that’s fully paid for and have a few drinks of Scotch that kids can’t afford while you watch the Rockford Files on your VCR. It will all be fine. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/48 "2019-11-20T20:50:29Z")
“Ok boomer” reflects the ignorance but also the frustration of the young generation. Let’s face it, the older we get, the more knowledge we have and the more self-aware most of us are. Not so with everyone, I admit, but in general. Explaining to the millenials just how much disfunction the boomers inherited is frustrating. They want solutions, not listening to boomers whine about their own problems and sometimes without understanding that many boomers are trying to find solutions as well. It feels helpless. So “Get off my lawn.” Will it go away? Certainly, when the millenials are in their 50s and up, they’ll get it. But, says this tail-end boomer who needs a job and can’t find one because Gen X managers think my knowledge must be useless, my current priority is basically the same as theirs - find a job so I can pay my bills. Talk to the hand.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/49 "2019-11-20T20:52:18Z")
> [@DaveRaver](#): > > Your mom’s a boomer! 🙂 Odds are good that if someone OK boomers you their mom is gen-x. So now you’ve thoroughly proven their point that you are as clueless as you are old. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/50 "2019-11-20T20:53:37Z")
Unless you were trying to imply their mom is a Ballistic Missile Submarine, in which case I have to ask “WTF is wrong with you?!” ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/51 "2019-11-20T21:40:54Z")
A snappy response to a snappy response? And crying about ageism, from the generation that has spent the better part of the last two decades bemoaning “lazy millenials”? It is to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/52 "2019-11-20T22:10:24Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Y’all gave us the Starland Vocal Band, Debbie Boone, Rupert Holmes, and the Archies. Check and mate, mate. Well, I can’t really argue with you about that. OTOH, we don’t get articles and postings about them several times every day. But…Ron Dante still tours, so you’ve got me there. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2019, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/53 "2019-11-20T22:53:50Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > “Ok boomer” reflects the ignorance but also the frustration of the young generation. > > Let’s face it, the older we get, the more knowledge we have and the more self-aware most of us are. Not so with everyone, I admit, but in general. Explaining to the millenials just how much disfunction the boomers inherited is frustrating. They want solutions, not listening to boomers whine about their own problems and sometimes without understanding that many boomers are trying to find solutions as well. It feels helpless. So “Get off my lawn.” Will it go away? Certainly, when the millenials are in their 50s and up, they’ll get it. But, says this tail-end boomer who needs a job and can’t find one because Gen X managers think my knowledge must be useless, my current priority is basically the same as theirs - find a job so I can pay my bills. > > Talk to the hand.:rolleyes: One of the largest and most consistent lapses of self awareness I see in older people is their incorrect beliefs about how intelligent and self-aware they are. I have every expectation that when I reach my fifties and up (in less than a decade :(), rather than ‘getting it’, that’ll be when I start to _lose_ it. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/54 "2019-11-21T00:42:07Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > One of the largest and most consistent lapses of self awareness I see in older people is their incorrect beliefs about how intelligent and self-aware they are. > > I have every expectation that when I reach my fifties and up (in less than a decade :(), rather than ‘getting it’, that’ll be when I start to _lose_ it. Agreed. One of the things I’ve noticed in this disdain that Millennials and Baby Boomers have for each other is the massively overinflated sense of self importance on both sides. I’m a middle child in a middle generation. Actually, I’m not even really Generation X. I’m in the “Oregon Trail” or “Xennial” micro-generation. It’s amusing anyone thinks “irrelevant old people” or “kids these days” is a new thing. Gen-X and the Greatest had similar conflicts, as did everyone in history going back to Ancient Greece at least. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/55 "2019-11-22T03:55:15Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Over the weekend I visited grandchildren. Grandson had a question on setting up contacts on his new phone. He started his question by saying “I’m a boomer”. So, this was a kid asking a grandfather a question and calling himself a boomer. I asked about boomer and apparently this is something that kids are calling each other in school. I guess it’s similar to previous generations calling other kids a derogatory term for gay people or those with mental disabilities. And I would prefer them using “boomer” than words that my generation used to insult each other. > Are we actually hearing them call older people boomer in real life? > My response to them using boomer was joking about it. It didn’t hurt my feelings. I probably joked so much they probably don’t want hear any more and won’t bring it up again… That usage sounds like he’s a “boomer” because he doesn’t know how to operate something on his phone. It’s a pretty normal “old person” stereotype that they can’t handle technology. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/56 "2019-11-22T04:10:49Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > One of the largest and most consistent lapses of self awareness I see in older people is their incorrect beliefs about how intelligent and self-aware they are. > > I have every expectation that when I reach my fifties and up (in less than a decade :(), rather than ‘getting it’, that’ll be when I start to _lose_ it. Fifty is not usually old enough for dementia to kick in. 😛 I’m a millennial, and I say he has a point. Boomers inherited these problems from the previous generation. The idea that it was a single generation that fucked us over is silly. Gen X got in there, too, and even some millennials and Gen Z are fucking shit up: I mean, the alt-right skews young, after all. Sure, the response works to all that bullshit about how millennials are fucking everything up. Or just as some sort of light ribbing, same as “get off my lawn.” And the frustration that previous generations left us with this mess to clean up is real. But this idea that Boomers or Gen Xers should apologize every time this phrase is uttered is silly. And I’m all for this thread. “Ok boomer” is, more often than not, a silly teasing remark. It’s silly snark. So a game of coming up with replies is on point. Check out [this instructional computer build video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8NFhjj0bUk) to get the right tone to “ok boomer” as it is usually used. And check out how Linus gives as well as he gets. (I know it’s long, but the girl is great!) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/57 "2019-11-22T05:38:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That usage sounds like he’s a “boomer” because he doesn’t know how to operate something on his phone. It’s a pretty normal “old person” stereotype that they can’t handle technology. Which my father, a boomer, fits to a T. 😃 (Seriously, he can hardly handle the TV remote!) And us Gen-Xers seem to be getting lost in the shuffle. So I’m content just to sit back, crack open a beer, and enjoy the fireworks. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/58 "2019-11-22T16:17:34Z")
Read this and maybe we’ll all learn a little today… [What does “OK boomer” mean? The meme, explained - Vox](https://www.vox.com/2019/11/19/20963757/what-is-ok-boomer-meme-about-meaning-gen-z-millennials?utm_source=pocket-newtab) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/59 "2019-11-22T19:16:18Z")
I’m 69. If a younger person said “OK, Boomer” to me I’d chuckle and say “Good one.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651/60 "2019-11-22T20:30:43Z")
> [@swampspruce](#): > > Read this and maybe we’ll all learn a little today… [What does “OK boomer” mean? The meme, explained - Vox](https://www.vox.com/2019/11/19/20963757/what-is-ok-boomer-meme-about-meaning-gen-z-millennials?utm_source=pocket-newtab) This’ll be a great help to all the Boomers who read Vox 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snappy-responses-to-ok-boomer/843651.md?page=4)